Nicole Richie may have created a monster. The reality star-turned-fashion designer has a total mini-me on her hands. At the tender age of 9, her daughter, Harlow, is completely obsessed with makeup. “She’s a total hair and makeup girl. She loves eyeshadow, blush — all of it,” Richie says.

A fresh-faced Nicole Richie. (David X Prutting/BFA/REX/Shutterstock)

The star tells Yahoo Lifestyle that her daughter frequently watches makeup tutorials. and though they have a “makeup only at home” rule in their household, Harlow occasionally tries to sneak out of the house on her father Joel Madden‘s watch wearing a tad more color than she’s supposed to. “When she goes out with her dad, sometimes I’ll meet up with them and I’m like ‘Whoa!'”

But some of Richie’s fondest memories are experimenting with her mom’s makeup as a child, so she’s happy to pass the tradition to her own offspring. “It’s really fun for her,” she says of Harlow’s newfound hobby. She also believes that if she doesn’t make cosmetics forbidden fruit, her daughter won’t rebel and go overboard. “My mom used to always let me play with her makeup, so I didn’t feel like I had to be crazy about wearing it,” she explains.

Getting the chance to glam up is something Richie thoroughly enjoys, but it’s not something she does in her everyday life. For a night on the town, the designer will opt for a nude lip and dramatic eyes. And she has a favorite beauty hack that she picked up from a makeup artist friend. “I blow-dry my eyelash curler so that my eyelashes stay curled throughout the day,” she says. “I have long lashes but they stick out straight, so this helps it stay longer.” The trick, according to Richie, is to use a “gentle heat” and “test it on your hand first.” She jokes that though she’s been doing this for a long time, there have been moments where she’s gone extreme with the heat and nearly singed her lashes.

When she’s running errands and being mom around at home, Richie is a makeup minimalist. “If I’m going to wear anything, it’s a little under-eye concealer and some mascara, just to look alive,” she says with a laugh. The same goes for her everyday skin-care routine. “I feel like the less I do, the better,” she explains. “I eat healthy and I let my skin breathe. I have sensitive skin, so I don’t do a ton of foundation. And I love the occasional mask.”

On Sept. 21, Richie will be celebrating her 36th birthday. and while many women heading toward “the big 4-0” dread any birthday after 35, the House of Harlow founder has developed a fairly positive outlook on aging. “There is nothing I can do to change my age. I’ve been every other age, so it’s time to keep it moving as far as I’m concerned,” she says.

And Richie is doing her best to embrace the changes each year brings. “I don’t think I’m trying to stay young,” she explains. “I don’t want to do the same things over and over for years on end. I actually really appreciate the evolution and new adventures that come with every age. Every age, I’m like, ‘I love it so much. I love it so much more.’ I love being in my 30s. I feel like I know myself a little better every single year, so I’m really enjoying it,” she says.

Like her former The Simple Life co-star, Paris Hilton, Richie was once notorious for coining a eclectic trends. But regardless of how outlandish her looks may have been in the past, the style icon would not do a thing to change her younger fashion sense.

“With style, I don’t know if I would tell my younger self anything, because I feel like your eye changes all the time,” she says. “It’s kind of cool to see that you were gravitating towards one thing one year, and then you were open to something that you thought that you would never be open to another year. That’s why I think, for both fashion and beauty, it’s never going to stay the same because what you are into is always going to change. And that shows a lot about where you are at that stage of your life also,” she says.

But in the beauty department, Richie would definitely modify one thing. “I would tell my younger self, ‘Don’t pierce your belly button, because you are going to get a scar and it’s disgusting.’ The piercing lasted, like, two years, but I still have the scar. I wish that I didn’t remember I had it, but I do because of this damn scar. It’s just like, why? Why do I need that? I would say get a tattoo, and then get it removed if you really need to, because there are some great tattoo removals. So do that!’ she says.

As far as today’s trends go, Richie tells her customers not to follow them. “I think that limits people and makes people who can’t fall into that trend feel bad about themselves. And fashion, style, and beauty should be inclusive. You gotta do your own thing,” she says.

The star, who is notorious for her chameleon hair color, has been wearing her locks blond as of late. “I color it and then I don’t. I color it and then I don’t,” she says, of her typical cycle. “Right now, I don’t have any color, but we’ll see. I’m kind of into it. I have curly hair and I’ve been wearing it curly recently, so it’s kind of nice to not worry about it.” But her main reason for not jumping to debut a new head of blue or purple is her distain for the salon. “I hate going into a salon. I hate sitting and getting my hair done. I can’t sit there for hours. I’m a bad groomer as far as a nail salon and a hair salon, so it’s kind of nice to take a break from that,” she admits.

After experimenting with dark-green hair dye, Nicole Richie is now back to a natural-looking dirty blond. (Photo: Getty Images)

For her latest endeavor, Richie recently teamed up with Urban Decay to serve as the spokesmodel for their new Troublemaker mascara. For the brand’s founder, Wende Zomnir, the edgy starlet was the perfect fit. “Nicole is beautiful. She has these giant eyes. She looks like a mascara spokesperson and she causes trouble. It just seemed so obvious,” she says. Richie laughs at that accusation and tells us, “I’m sure I’ve caused some trouble somewhere along the lines in my life.”

Makers of the mascara, which is said to lengthen lashes by 13.7 times their volume, also say it is sex-proof. Richie says she can certainly back that up. “I have tested that,” she reveals, flashing a grin. “And it sure stays on!”